BLOG

Children grow up and become adults. A simple concept, but it's one we often forget to be aware of in a practical sense. When someone is a child growing up, they often imagine the day they become a “grown-up”, as some far off dream. It's like they might view Heaven, as real, but always a place you'll get to “someday”, rather than now.

Similarly, as adults, we can view children as eternally young. Oh, we know they'll grow up “someday”, but our "cherub-vision" keeps them from ever being adults in our mind. Mind you, when they misbehave, cherub-vision turns off, and we all are quite ready for them to finally “grow up”!

Joking aside, sometimes we can disassociate children, from being would-be-adults, in our mind. Unfortunately, when we forget they will be the next generation of adults, we neglect preparing them for the tasks that lie ahead.

As a single young man writing this, some might wonder what I could know about training children. Admittedly, very little. But it takes supporting parents and a community of people, to raise children. Each of us has a part to play in helping children become the adults they're created to be.

It's through this concept, and much prayer, I was led to serve in my church's children's ministry, this year. After helping the teachers for a few months, I was in charge of the class this Sunday, for the first time. It was quite an experience.

As any parent would know, better than I, being “in charge” of two to four year olds, can be a difficult thing. Finding a proper balance of patience, and refocusing a child's attention, especially when the child is not your own, can be tricky. I found this, in listening to what the child had to say, and transitioning into the Sunday School lesson organically. A lot of good conversation can come from listening.

My pupil seemed to have a fascination with talking about lava lately.

“So what's lava?” I asked.

“Hot stuff,” he replied, as scientifically as you can be at four years old.

“Hot stuff? So is coffee lava?” I posed humorously.

“No. Lava is orange stuff that is in Bowser's castle,” he replied very specifically.

“Oh, I see, Bowser from the Mario games.” I pointed out, realizing his lava fascination came from the popular Nintendo series.

“Ya. He's mean. He's a bad guy.”

This led to an interesting discussion, about God wanting us to pray for our enemies, not retaliate. And what makes a “bad guy” a “bad guy”, and a “good guy” a “good guy”.

I wasn't sure whether he was fully grasping the idea. But later I was encouraged to hear his answer to a question during our formal lesson.

“What are some ways we can learn more about God?” I asked.

“We can go home and pray for bad guys to become good guys.” he replied.

The simplistic beauty of his answer made me smile. But really, his answer wasn't simple at all. I could see throughout the morning, how much he thought about the idea of praying for those who hurt us, as Jesus told us to, in Luke 6:28.

We can each find healthy ways to make a positive difference in children's lives. They're listening, whether we like it or not. Let's take some time to think about the world we're letting them overhear, and the world we hope they'll preserve and build upon. As much as we want children to rise above our mistakes, and in many ways they will, they can only do so if we give them a solid foundation. Let's point them to the solid foundation.

The little things are so often under-appreciated. Even my previous sentence has become somewhat cliche and under-appreciated itself. ​

Recently I was speaking with world traveller Jonathan van Bilsen, who said he appreciates the slow pace of non-western nations. He said, many don't have televisions or other gadgetry to distract their focus. In the West, a culture of overworking ourselves to buy the updated version of something we already own, persists. But in many other cultures, people work hard for one purpose, to provide for their families. They spend all their free time socializing with family and friends.

Amidst this Western cultural mindset, I've come to see a negative side effect of our hobbies. As we've been able to move away from being workaholics, we've replaced work with equally burdensome hobbies. In this area, the idiom “a change is as good as a rest” doesn't fully apply. Change helps us, with a form of rest, but whatever happened to the good old-fashioned art of plain old resting? When was the last time you did “nothing”?

I'm not advocating laziness. We should work hard, even above and beyond expectations. We should pull our weight, and be responsible. In fact, I enjoy working hard, when I get into the rhythm of things. I like to-do lists, and checking off their contents as I go. I've been known to skip meals and delay sleep when working on a project. But that's the problem! Working hard isn't an issue, but there's a time and place for everything.

King Solomon, often considered one of the wisest men who ever lived, said these words in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. Further on in the chapter, he mentions there is a time for building, and for laughing and embracing.

What are you building, and what did you build it for? Have you lost sight of why you are building your life, or who you've been working for? Have you spent so much time working to support your family, that you don't spend time with them? Have you worked so hard in your ministry, you don't have time to do face to face outreach, to touch another life one on one?

Some of us have imagined unreachable dollar figures around our expectations for happiness. Some of us have let unrealistic levels of productivity become our obsession. Have we begun to seek goals in our work, other than the reasons we started working in the first place?

Your family doesn't need a big screen 4K television. You don't need the brand new iPhone. Your family will get by without multiple cars, a cottage, a boat, or a yearly trip to Florida. They don't need those things, they need you. Set reasonable working hours, and limit, or eliminate altogether, hobbies that keep you away from those you love.

Each of us comes across a unique set of people in our lives. Many other people will come across those same people, but you're the only you they'll ever know. There's something specific you can give them of yourself. It isn't your hard work, or money, or the things those monies can buy, that they need you to give them. It's you yourself.

We are in the midst of, what my Dad likes to call, the “Season of Giving”. This starts with Remembrance Day and continues all through the Christmas season. During this time, let's focus on putting our work and hobbies back where they belong. Instead of letting those become our primary focus, let's enjoy the people we've been blessed to call our own.